The Last of Robin Hood

As we're winding down toward the end of the summer movie season, we have in the offing, yet another biopic which, as I've mentioned before, truth can be more fascinating and entertaining than fiction. What is interesting about "The Last of Robin Hood" is that, being based on an aspect of movie star, Errol Flynn, it is just difficult to believe that Hollywood hadn't produced a biopic on this icon years ago considering his sketchy past at best.

This is the true story of Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), teen starlet who became the last girlfriend of legendary swashbuckler Errol Flynn (Kevin Kline). In 1957 two years before Flynn's subsequent death, Beverly was working at Warner Brothers Studios with a fake birth certificate indicating she was 18 and in actuality, was only 15-- when she encountered the former matinee icon. After a bumpy start, the two undertook a relationship that was eventually embraced by Beverly's Hollywood mom, Florence (Susan Sarandon) who simply turned the other cheek lest Flynn might drop Beverly and they would be left with nothing. The affair took the three of them from L.A. to New York to Africa, then to Cuba where Flynn pitched in with the rebels to make a pro-Castro propaganda movie starring Beverly. It all came crashing to an end in Vancouver, however, when Flynn died in Beverly's arms, causing an avalanche of publicity; Florence finally achieved the attention she sought in the form of tabloid notoriety but the chaos drove Beverly to the edge of sanity. This is a poignant but dark and oddly funny coming-of-age film about the desire of fame and what price does one pay to achieve it.

Others to round out the cast are Matt Kane as Ronnie Shedlo, Flynn's assistant, Patrick St. Esprit as Herb Aadland, Florence's husband, Bryan Batt as Orry Kelly, Flynn's costume designer, Max Casella as Stanley Kubrick, Ric Reitz as Melvin Belli, Flynn's attorney, Judd Lormand as Reporter, Jason Davis as Tedd Thomey, Jane McNeil as Cynthia Gould, Joe Knezevich as John Ireland, Ben Winchell as Jack and Sean Flynn as Grip (who is actually a grandson of Errol Flynn).

This was both written and directed by Richard Glatzer ("Grief" '93, "The Fluffer" '01, "Quinceanera" '06, Still Alice" '14) and Wash Westmoreland ("The Fluffer" '01, "Gay Republicans" (TV movie documentary) '04, "Quinceanera" '06, "Still Alice" '14). Obviously these guys work a lot together (same films and in the writing/directing chair as well), and when two artists work so well together, why split when they are assuredly having fun and creating at the same time? The writing starts at Flynn's death in 1959 and does a flashback two years prior of how he met his last girlfriend, Beverly Aadland. The film then works its way forward using a narrative throughout only to bring us to that imminent death and beyond. The script flowed well with just a bit of choppiness, however not enough to take away from the impact they were attempting to achieve. The acting was spot on by all three of these actors, but these characters were incredibly difficult to feel sorry for or to empathize with. The issues just flowed like water--so much so that the only ones you felt sorry for at all were the other people that the three had any consistent contact with. Again, fine writing and acting.

If you're into biopics or this era of the movie industry, you will revel, but even if you're only looking for fine acting, look no further, this film gives it to you in spades.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                              Rated: R                               90mins.